Holocaust Literature: Seeing with The Diary of Anne Frank and Night Catherine Metzger 11/25/02

Student Population Ages: Grade: 9-10 Race: 20% African American, 25% Latino, 35% White, 15% Asian, 5% Other Gender: 55% female, 45% male Language: 10% not “FEP’ed” (2 Ukanian, Hmong) General reading level: Struggling: 5 th grade Not struggling: 8 th grade

Topic of Study  English, language arts  Year-long goal: to invite students to passionately engage with human experience through literature; to significantly increase reading and writing skills  Unit goal: to provoke and sustain critical thinking about our world and ourselves by reading and writing about holocaust literature

Background knowledge Non-Jewish students September 11 provides some parallel Immigrant students may have firsthand experience Journal writing and memory

Materials Night, Elie Wiesel The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition, Anne Frank et al. MAUS: A Survivor’s Tale, Volumes I and II, Art Spiegelman The Sunflower, Simon Wiesenthal USHMM Identification Cards (37)

How materials chosen Fry readability graph for text difficulty DAF: 7.1; Night: 8.5; MAUS: 2.8; S: 7.1 The Diary…13 y.o. author; emotionally gripping; CA reading list; copies for each Night…12-15 y.o., Nobel-prize winner’s; emotionally disturbing; content challenges Maus…graphic novel; provacative content Sunflower…essays; philosophical; abstract

Literacy diet Comprehension: Jot down all questions raised by section of literary text Writing: Reread text and then write response to question (essay or reflection) Word Study: Vocabulary notebooks; word sort (for example: historical, Jewish and Nazi terminology) Fluency: Miholic inventory; teach strategies

Comprehension building  Pre-reading: KWL, CLOZE on history leading up to holocaust  During reading: Reading response journals; “write-along;” levels of questioning  Post-reading: Creating storyboard for “Public Service Announcement” on children’s rights during wartime; Reader- Writer Poster

Graphic organizers KWL: to assess prior knowledge, arouse interest TIMELINE: holocaust & each character’s VENN: compare Elie and Prisoner X from account of choice Compare Elie and Your Choice Elie. Prisoner X Both interned Children VENN Elie TIMELINE 6/12/ /29/42 7/42 7/6/42 8/4/44 9/2/44 Anne born Family moves Anne gets diary Frank family moves to “secret annex” Ann sent to Auschwitz Frankfurt,Germany to Amsterdam Margot gets call to report to transit camp Franks arrested

Assessment Reader-Writer Poster Rubric (Formal) PSA Rubric (Formal) Exam--short answer essay (Formal) Whole-class discussion/questions Ex: Reader-Author Poster